Over-Committed

Have you ever met someone who didn't like music? These people confuse me. I mean, they truly make no sense to me. How else are you supposed to get over a bad breakup without listening to Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt while sobbing in the bathtub gripping a bottle of stale red wine? There must be a healthier way to grieve that I have yet to be informed of.

What about music is there not to like, let alone love? I love music so much that I keep really bad songs on my iPod because I feel guilty deleting them. I did enjoy these songs at some point in time; they didn't do anything wrong to me to deserve complete and utter dismissal. I just politely skip over them. The thing is though, my musical tastes have changed so rapidly over the years that a lot of the songs on my iPod get skipped daily. I think there are about two listenable songs per ten skipped songs (and this is out of almost 2400 songs). One solution to this problem would be to simply delete all of the songs I end up skipping over, but that seems like a highly drastic move. What if I happen to be in the mood one day to rock out to Jennifer Love Hewitt's one and only single? I could also make a play list of all the songs that are worth listening to, but I would have to break them down by genre and that seems like a lot of work.

If I was to put my iPod on shuffle like I always do, these are the following songs that would play:

1. Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
(just happens to be one of my favs - so we will give this one a listen.)

2. NaS - Hope
(I used to really love Nas. He's the reason I fell in love with hip hop about 14 years ago. This ship has long sailed, and I need to be in a kind of "mood" to listen to hip hop nowadays. Next.)

3. Nelly Furtado - Maneater
(I used to enjoy this song while getting ready to go out. It used to be a good "driving to the party" song. Every once in a while I'll let it play in my car, but this would usually get skipped. Moving on!)

4. TLC - Creep
(This brings me back to 4th grade when Crazysexycool first dropped. If I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll let it rock. Right now however, I'm not feeling it. Skipped.)

5. Anna Nalick - Shine
(While I do like most of Anna Nalick's songs, this one I don't. I downloaded it on the good faith that it would be as good as her previous songs. To the left, to the left.)

6. Alicia Keys - Tell You Something
(What can I say, I love me some A.Keys. We'll let this one play.)

7. Fredo Star - True Colors
(This is from the Save the Last Dance album - a movie that I really liked when I was 16. I felt a kinship with the white girl falling in love with a *gasp* black guy and then developed a deep bond through dancing and music. I bought the entire album in support of the movie. This song kinda sucks though. Moving on.)

8. 50 Cent feat. Beyonce - Thug Love
(Again, I would have to be in my hip hop mood to listen to this. Right now, that mood isn't here. Next.)

9. Limp Bizkit - Rollin'
(Welcome to 1999/2000 - I hated this song when it first came out, yet it somehow made its way into my music collection, and my iPod. Change this immediately.)

10. Rent Soundtrack - Goodbye Love
(I'm a sucker for most musicals, especially ones about the HIV and gay lovers. We'll let this one play.)

11. Alanis Morissette - Crazy
(I like the original Seal version better. Don't eff with a masterpiece...)

12. Mr. Scruff - Kalimba
(This is barely a song. It's just random musical tones over a bad beat. I'm not entirely sure how the hell it made it's way into my musical collection. Skipped.)

That is precisely two songs played out of ten skipped songs. I can't make this up! I was figuring all this out during my drive back to Virginia today - I had four hours of scientific research to back these foundings up. I do have songs that literally make me cringe every single time they play and I still refuse to get rid of them. I mean, who seriously has La Bouche, Kris Kross and Eddie Murphey on their iPod other than me!? I have to admit I'm embarrassed when someone is in my car and I have to keep my iPod in hand the entire duration of the drive so I can skip over the songs that would attempt to steal my dignity.

I might have to recruit some help to clean out my iTunes library. This is turning into a serious problem.